New Delhi, Mar 13 (UNI) India and the ASEAN bloc held the 27th Senior Officials’ Meeting in Manila yesterday during which the two sides discussed early completion of review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA).

The 27th ASEAN-India Senior Officials’ Meeting (AISOM) was co-chaired by Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary (East), with MA. Theresa P. Lazaro, Philippine SOM Leader, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines.

Philippines is the Country Coordinator for ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations. The meeting was attended by Senior Officials and representatives of all ASEAN Member States and Timor Leste which holds Observer Status in ASEAN, and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, a statement said.

The 27th AISOM reviewed the status of implementation of decisions of ASEAN-India Summit/ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (PMC+1) across the three pillars of engagement, namely, political-security, economic and socio-cultural.

The Senior Officials appreciated progress in the implementation of the 10 Point Proposal of Prime Minister Modi announced at the 21st ASEAN-India Summit in Lao PDR in 2024 to further strengthen the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership including to designate the year 2025 as the ASEAN-India Year of Tourism.

Secretary (East) underlined that ASEAN is a crucial pillar of India's Act East Policy and its vision for the wider Indo-Pacific. Key issues of discussion included tourism cooperation, early completion of review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), digital, maritime, connectivity, health, innovation and development partnerships. Views on regional and global issues of mutual interest were also exchanged.

Preparations for the ASEAN-India Summit and ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to be held later this year in Malaysia were also discussed. The ASEAN side appreciated India's continued support to ASEAN and to the ASEAN-led architecture in the region.

Secretary (East) called on Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Enrique A. Manalo and briefed him on the outcomes of AISOM. He also discussed growing bilateral relations and multifaceted cooperation between India and Philippines and the ways to further expand and enhance them. He thanked Secretary Manalo for accepting the invitation to participate in the 10th Raisina Dialogue at New Delhi from March 17-19, the statement added.

Review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) is expected to facilitate the expansion of trade between India and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in a "balanced and sustainable manner".

The AITIGA was signed in 2009. In September 2022, both sides tasked the AITIGA Joint Committee to undertake the review with the aim of making the agreement more trade enabling and mutually beneficial.

Subsequently, a total of eight sub-committees have been constituted to undertake negotiations on different policy areas related to the agreement.

India-ASEAN trade reportedly grew to US$131.58 billion in 2022–23

ASEAN is an important trade partner of India with about 11% share in India’s global trade.

ASEAN is a regional grouping that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

As of 2023, ASEAN countries have a total population of 677 million people—making it the third most populous region in the world—and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.8 trillion

UNI RN